Let's be clear: The "Free [Celebrity]" T-shirt is either to be used ironically for B-level celebs who were recently arrested (hopefully on relatively benign charges) or for imprisoned people who are, y'know, truly INNOCENT. That ain't Mike Vick.

So here's a big ol' STFU: To Roddy "Free Mike Vick" White and DeAngelo Hall, that noted poster guy of sportsmanship who sported "MV7" on his eyeblack and carried a Vick poster onto the field during pregame introductions. How about a T-shirt "Free Common Sense!"

Meanwhile, the Falcons were crushed by the Saints. Don't blame the Vick-sentencing distraction; the Falcons are just plain bad.

That 3-TD, 328-yard performance from Drew Brees is what fans had expected to see all year from the Saints offense. Maybe next year.... (By the way: If they could rack up that kind of offense without Reggie Bush, is it worth asking how much value he really adds?)

More importantly: How many fantasy playoff games were won in the final hours of the week as your opponent had Brees or Marques Colston to come from behind and steal a win?

Pats-Jets: Biggest Vegas line ever? That's quite a statement about the Pats AND the Jets. Really: Who the hell would take the Jets and the points?

Steroid Scandal: Victor Conte and Dick Pound, together at last. Now THAT is an awkward conversation I want to see streamed live online.

They meet tomorrow in New York City, and Conte promises he will "name names" to Pound, who probably can't wait to tell the media about them.

Meanwhile, David Segui reaffirmed he used PEDs, but said he refused to talk to the Mitchell Commission out of solidarity with the players.

I suppose it's not an easy choice: Dedication to fellow players over dedication to the sport -- and where do the fans stand on even wanting to know the whole story? It's unclear.

Bears starting QB... Kyle Orton: No, seriously. Which fantasy owner in the playoffs will be bold enough to pick up Orton and win the weekend?

NBA: Turnaround Team of the Year? How about the Hawks, who are a respectable (and playoff-qualifying) 10-10 and just beat the Magic last night, behind Josh Smith's 25 and 16.

Meanwhile, what could be for the Heat: 6-15 record, but they just beat the Suns, behind Dwyane Wade's 31 pts, 6 ast and 3 steals. (I know all the support is behind LeBron for MVP, but why not Wade?)

CFB: So you're telling me that if Bobby Bowden retired today, FloridaState fans would rather have Jimbo Fisher than, say, Mark Richt or Rich Rodriguez? I find that extremely hard to believe.

Meanwhile, is UCLA about to hire Norm Chow? Beyond his status as one of the great offensive minds in football, he would be the first Asian-American to be a CFB head coach. Progress in minority hiring.

WashingtonState hires Eastern Washington's Paul Wulff after he led EWU to the I-AA playoffs. Gotta love the alumni connection.

MLB Hot Stove: Kosuke Fukudome is headed to MLB, but where will the heralded Japanese OF end up? The Padres are rumored to have a huge offer on the table, and many are talking about the Cubs as the leaders for his services. If Matsuzaka's nickname was "Dice-K," I look forward to the nickname creativity with "Fukudome."

Nats get catcher LoDuca: After trading the Mets their catcher, Brian Schneider, the Nationals picked up the Mets' catcher, Paul LoDuca.

CBB: Louisville suspends Derrick Caracter indefinitely. I guess you could say he had a "Caracter issue."

Meanwhile, Andy Katz beat me to it yesterday, but not before a reader emailed to say: What about Rhode Island? Mid-major team to watch.

More Mid-Major Mania: St. Mary's makes the AP Top 25 for the first time since 88-89. Keep an eye on them as a potential first-round Tournament spoiler.

Women's College Hoops: Rutgers Watch. "America's Women's Basketball Team" notched another big win, beating No. 12 Cal for their 4th win over a Top 15 team this season. (I'll lay low on Rutgers until Feb. 5 and 11, when they play UConn and Tennessee in back-to-back mega-games.)

New Deadspin CFB Post about an exclusionary college football playoff system: Mostly positive emails (for once), but a lot of Pac-10 and Big Ten die-hards who claimed that a 13-0 Rose Bowl champ would trump whoever won the playoff in the final poll tally.

But, no: You're still thinking of the old "mythical" model, where being undefeated matters; that's the beauty of the playoff system:

If one of the 8 playoff teams in my "Coalition of the Winning" beats THREE Top 8 teams in three weeks en route to winning the playoff, they could have 0 losses, 1 loss, 2 losses or any number of losses and STILL earn the championship title.

(What: You think that the AP will split the title for your Rose Bowl winner? Not after a decade of griping about the need for a playoff; the media voters would look silly to suddenly abandon a playoff champ.)

The point of the plan is this: Call the Pac-10's bluff by creating a playoff, making them the bad guy by their choosing to opt out of it.

If the Pac-10, Big Ten and Rose Bowl are the only things standing in the way of a playoff, simply work around them.

7 comments:

its nitpicking but Dice-K isnt really a nickname, its just how youre supposed to pronounce Daisuke. Looks cooler too, tho.

and i support your proposal to get around the Rose Bowl to get a playoff system at 1-A, BUT, i am not a fan of the playoff system. i like the bowls, and rose bowl. i dont see what the big deal is. it makes the season fun. bowls arent perfect but neither is a playoff tournament. TMQ has an interesting take on it all recently, which is surprising because he is basically going senile.

A playoff system which leaves out two of the best conferences in college football is idiotic. An undefeated Pac 10/Big Ten team winning the Rose Bowl could easily split a national title with the winner of such a flawed playoff system.

Where are you getting your information that only the Pac-10 Big Ten and Rose Bowl are the reasons we don't currently have a playoff?

Not saying you're wrong... I just haven't heard that it is down to those two conferences from anybody at all. I've still heard that the majority of school presidents are still against it for whatever asinine reason they have.

As for the reason that wade isn't in the MVP discussions... his team is 6-15. And haven't been much better with him in the lineup.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.